[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[IRCA] 2005 Newfoundland DXpedition Report - Summary
- Subject: [IRCA] 2005 Newfoundland DXpedition Report - Summary
- From: "Jim Renfrew" <jrenfrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:30:20 -0500
Newfoundland Dxpedition #15, November 4-14, 2005
SUMMARY
Since it usually takes many months to complete a full and
detailed report (necessitated by the need to review dozens of cassette
tapes), we offer this initial summary to whet the appetite of those who
would like to get an early report on our doings in Newfoundland the week of
November 4 to 14. Please note that the items reported below are subject to
correction following review of tapes.
The 2005 Newfoundland DXPedition is now completed, with Jean Burnell of
Halifax NS (NOV 4-14), John Fisher of Kingston ON (NOV 8-14) and Jim Renfrew
of Byron NY (NOV 7-14) having been the participants. As many as five radios
were in use: Drakes R8, R8A, R8B, and an ICOM R71A. For the second year
the location was the Round Cove Bed and Breakfast in Cappahayden, a short
distance from the location that had been used until 2002. Cappahayden is
about an hour's drive south of St. John's. The proprietors are very
friendly, and we have the full use of a finished basement for DXing. One
serious problem was some sort of power line buzz that would strike for a few
minutes or even hours at a time. We suspect that this is related to salt
spray on the lines and connectors. A day of rain seemed to cure the worst
of it. At our previous Cappahayden location the local power lines were
further from the house, but here the power lines run between the house and
the shoreline where the antenna wires run. There were two wires, the
"northern wire" aimed at Europe, and the "southern wire" aimed at South
America, along with splitters and amplifiers.
Reception conditions were dramatically different from 2004 when major
auroral conditions prevailed. In 2004 conditions were excellent to Africa
and South America because Europe was almost completely blocked. In 2005
nearly the opposite conditions were experienced, with good east-west
propagation throughout the week. Please note that the word "good" needs
some interpretation. At Cappahayden there are typically TA signals on
nearly every frequency from around 2:00 PM until 7:00 AM Newfoundland time,
so "good" means that all of the signals that can normally be heard were
heard. But it was not "excellent" in that there were only a few far eastern
receptions and sub-Saharan Africa was almost completely absent. What was
most striking was the absence of deep south receptions. Even with quiet
atmospheric conditions, just a few of the Brazilian and Argentine regulars
were in evidence, unlike previous years when a slew of signals are available
from sunset in Brazil until dawn in Colombia. Jean noted that this was the
first DXpedition in which he was unable to log at least one new Brazilian
station.
Even so, with lots of patience and observation there were a number of real
gems noted:
810 MACEDONIA Makedonska Radio, Skopje, NOV 10 1900 -
strong signal with Balkan music, then a full ID at
the top of the hour "Makedonska Radio - Radio Makedonia".
846 RUSSIA? Radio Radonezh, Noginsk, NOV 10 1942 - long
talk in Russian, struggling to get through
Ireland 846, at 1950 bells between news items, faded before the top of the
hour. Tentative.
860 CUBA Radio Reloj, Baracoa, NOV 14 0328 - not a new
station for us, but unusual because instead of
the normal "RR" in code, there were chimes instead. All the other Reloj
outlets heard used code.
1000 USA KOMO, Seattle, NOV 12 1019 - nice "KOMO Radio
1000" heard through WMVP. We've
never heard anything this far west before.
1020 VENEZUELA R. Continente Calendario, Maracaibo,
NOV 14 0257 - a DXer's dream of a full five minutes
of IDs, following a classical music program.
1035 ESTONIA Tartu Family Radio, Tartu, NOV 10 2135 - light
music program.
1125 RUSSIA Radio Orfey, St. Petersburg, NOV 10 1937 -
Russian language with classical music, parallel to
1161. This represented the beginning of a good run on Russian stations
during the next two hours.
1161 RUSSIA Radio Orfey, Volograd NOV 10 1937 - Russian
language with classical music, parallel to 1125.
1170 UAE Radio Sawa, al-Dhabbaya, NOV 8 2018, easily
heard through Voice of Russia.
1188 RUSSIA Deutsche Welle, St. Petersburg, NOV 10
2018 - "Hier ist Volna" ID heard at 2030, parallel
6180 kHz German program. Listed at 10 kW.
1197 LESOTHO Family Radio, Maseru, NOV 7 2234 - the
unmistakable voice of Harold Camping.
1341 HUNGARY Magyar Katolikus Radio, Szolnok, NOV 10 0352 -
music program, led into a program from
Vatican Radio at 0410.
1350 LATVIA Radio Tatras International, Kuldiga, NOV 8
2028 - strong dance music, a few IDs as "Tatras"
or "RTI.
1377 ARMENIA TWR, Gavar, NOV 10 1910 - noted with a
TWR Interval Signal, parallel to the previously
logged TWR 864 from Armenia.
1385.9 GUINEA Radio Rurale, Labé, NOV 8 2115 - stood out as
one of the few heard from Africa, a strong
signal.
1386 LITHUANIA Radio Baltic Waves, Sitkunai, NOV 10
2155 - with Chinese lessons for a Russian audience.
1386 KENYA KBC, Maralal, NOV 12 0215 - steady signal with
music and announcements.
1413 UNID SITE Voice of Russia, NOV 10 2001 - very strong in
Bulgarian, parallel to 6000 kHz. This seems to
have replaced the 1467 Grigoriopol transmission. We wondered if this might
be Pristina in Kosovo?
1440 RUSSIA Radio France International, St. Petersburg,
NOV 10 2035 - French program parallel to 7315
kHz, weak under Luxembourg which was not using DRM at the time. This one
listed as 10 kW.
1494 CORSICA Radio Bleue, Bastia, NOV 7 2131 - France-Inter
was once the sole program heard on this
frequency, but now there are two programs here: Radio Bleue and France
Info. Radio Bleue is from Corsica.
1494 RUSSIA TWR, St. Petersburg, NOV 10 2042 - program in
Norwegian, interval signal heard at 2058.
1539 DJIBOUTI RTVD, Djibouti, NOV 7 1942 // 4780 shortwave.
1548 SRI LANKA Deutsche Welle, Trincomalee, NOV 12 1730 - at
this early hour German language was
quickly paralleled to 9545 shortwave. The signal was gone around 1750.
This may be the highlight of the DXpedition, as Sri Lanka has not been heard
here before.
1557 LITHUANIA Radio Baltic Waves, Kaunas/Sitkunai,
with China Radio International in Russian, NOV 8
1815.
1557 UAE Radio Asia, Ras al Khaimah, NOV 13 1842 - heard
though out the week with Middle Eastern
music under France and Radio Baltic Waves, an ID announcement was finally
heard at this time.
1575 UAE R. Farda, al-Dhabbiya, NOV 7 2028.
1700 MEXICO XEKTT, Tecate BCN, NOV 12 1034 - in the
post sunrise hour we found a series of English
ads and announcements for the San Diego area, along with a muffled mention
of call letters. This occurred shortly after the KOMO 1000 reception noted
above.
The most fruitful times for MW DXing were afternoon and early evening, and
then again in the hour before and after sunrise.
Some suspected Greek and Serbian pirates were noted on 1627 and 1639.87 on
NOV 13 between 2045 and 2145.
DRM signals were noted on 1440 and 1530 kHz, producing a heavy buzz.
Fortunately, from such a far distance, there was not much interference to
adjacent channels.
After about 2000 UTC, with the absence of any new targets, we usually
shifted to shortwave. We found Greenland 3815 on NOV 8 2133-2212, with
Greenlandic and Danish talk. As far as we know this is the first North
American reception of this station. We also noted nearly all the Indian
regional stations on the 90 and 60 meter band, with the exception of AIR
Gangtok. All of these sign on between 2355- and 0100. They were in every
night we looked for them. An RRI station on 4925 from Sumatra was noted,
too. Coalition Forces Radio operates in International Waters on 9133 usb,
with Middle Eastern music and announcements, but an ID could not be found
when we listened to this station on November 11th, 0127-0300. John and Jean
enjoyed spotting various European pirates, while Jim dug around in the
longwave band looking for beacons. During the sunrise listening period
there were numerous domestic stations logged for the first time.
Watch for our complete report in months to come.
_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers
For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org
To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx